On a super-small building lot on a corner in the old town center of the city of Utrecht, it was necessary to design a structure as slender as possible.  

Every extra inch of thickness of the facade would mean a considerable loss of living area inside the house. Such a slender house could only be developed with a steel structure and facade. Seven levels, including the basement, result in a net floor area of 117 square meters in total. It should be taken into consideration that this is on a footprint of 15 square meters and a maximum building height of 14.4 meters. By designing an ingenious steel structure for this location, with a prominent yet compact staircase, all the living wishes were fulfilled. Not only the shape of the house required steel, the low mass of the material also made it possible to reuse the existing foundation. The main shape of the house is erected with a steel tube structure, rigidly welded together. The bay windows, made out of L-shaped profiles, are suspended from this base structure.

The closed bay windows are literally an extension of the rooms, the round glass bay windows just have an aesthetical function. By using composite floors the height of the structural floor was limited to 70 mm. To gain space and height the bottom of the composite floors (galvanized steel) is exposed. To achieve stability in the horizontal direction the house is connected to the surrounding buildings with wall-ties.

Sandwich panels with an outer skin of stainless steel form the closed parts of the facade. Behind this facade one can find the living room, the bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen with a dining room, a lot of storage capacity and in the basement even a pantry and a toilet. Living in a mini multi-storey building shouldn't mean going up and down the stairs throughout the day!

Project data